China Reports 68% Jump in Cyber Attacks on Government Websites
March 9 (Bloomberg) -- Bloomberg Businessweek's Brad Stone talks about hacker-activists known as Anonymous and the group's attack on computer security firm HBGary Inc. Stone speaks with Cory Johnson on Bloomberg Television's "Bloomberg West." (Source: Bloomberg)
China said computer hacking attacks against websites of the nation’s government agencies jumped 68 percent last year, and called on local regulators to follow the U.S. and the European Union in stepping up Internet policing.
More than 4,600 Chinese government websites had their content modified by hackers in 2010, according to a report by the National Computer Network Emergency Response Technical Team/Coordination Center of China yesterday. Stricter penalties should be imposed against offenders to deter cyber attacks, according to the center, which is affiliated to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.
Chinese Internet companies and users should increase monitoring after cyber attacks against operators including Baidu Inc. and Tencent Holdings Ltd. (700) last year, according to the report. Regulators in the world’s biggest online market should enact new rules as authorities in the U.S., EU, Japan and Australia strengthen oversight of Web safety, the center said.
The Chinese government has said previously that it is a victim of cyber attacks and doesn’t originate them. Google Inc. (GOOG), owner of the world’s most-popular Internet search-engine, last year said its computers were targeted by “highly sophisticated” attacks from inside China, and threatened to end its operations in the country.
Hackers backed by Chinese authorities conducted computer attacks on U.S. government agencies and companies, including networks of Google, the New York Times reported in December.
“Internet safety is becoming a tougher issue day by day,” the center said in its report. Infiltrations into computer systems of Chinese companies in industries including technology, finance, energy and transport will increase, it said.
China had about 457 million Internet users at the end of last year, according to the China Internet Network Information Center, a government-affiliated group that compiles industry statistics. That’s more than the combined populations of the U.S. and Japan.
To contact the reporter on this story: Mark Lee in Hong Kong at wlee37@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Young-Sam Cho at ycho2@bloomberg.net
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